Descriptions

A cinematographic analysis of hurdling technique was completed
using six high school women in the 100 meter hurdle event as
subjects. The study was descriptive in design, intending to make
objective comparisons of selected elements of the hurdling action.
Sixteen hypotheses were developed and tested, in an effort to describe
relationships between variables of the hurdling action.
Five correlation coefficients were significant at the .05
level, four of which confirmed relationships reported in the literature.
The data presented in this study confirmed two relationships
which were not in agreement with relationships expressed in the
literature. Lack of significance between leg length and take-off
distance was contradictory to the relationship of those two variables
as reported in the literature. The significant, negative
correlation coefficient obtained between the smallest trunk to
thigh angle of the subject, and the vertical distance which center
of gravity was above the hurdle at clearance, was also in
disagreement with the literature.
Close examination of the data revealed that timing the execution
of movements based upon mechanical principles is as critical
as the employment of those principles.
The complex and interrelated nature of elements of the hurdling
action, made evident through cinematographic techniques,
points toward future study in the area of manipulation of variables,
and the effects of those manipulations on the performance
of the hurdler.